A Scattered Region
by Romantic-Flights
Summary: Izzy Waters continues her journey through the scattered regions with her traveling buddies, Shaun and Malcolm. On their adventure they uncover a great mystery surrounding the island they're on, fight their very own Team Tsunami, and perhaps find time for a little romance along the way. What are you waiting for? Adventure awaits!
1. ReStart of a Great Adventure

It had been about half a day since everybody except Shaun and Malcolm had left. Kyle had been nice enough to leave us stranded in the middle of a forest with a map though, so it wasn't so bad. Turns out the Island is a little bigger that we thought. Kyle had led us around Shamrock good enough and shown us how to get to and from the Visitors' Center and the docks in case anything went wrong, but Shamrock was only a little section of the forest that covered the Island. There were at least four other sections and a mountainous region labeled Glalie Range. Apparently there was also an active volcano on the Island that hadn't erupted for more than five hundred years. But I digress. The point I'm trying to make now is that I am completely lost on an Island with potentially aggressive Pokémon and two arguing lunatics!

"No, remember Kyle said the Visitors' Center was to the south of where we were. So we are right here right now." Shaun pointed at the map, heatedly arguing whatever Malcolm had just said. The taller maroon haired boy shook his head in disagreement.

"No, no, no. We must me right here because we were there just yesterday!" Malcolm insisted. Meanwhile, Combusken and Michelangelo were having a battle of their own. Combusken pointed to the map, and barked something at the Mime Jr. Michelangelo, arms crossed, shook his head stubbornly and gave a sharp reply. I watched in only slight amusement.

As they continued to try and beat imaginary directional sense into each other I just tried to get some the leaves and small branches untangled from my ridiculously curly hair. I had taken a seat on an inviting looking rock to rest while the boys had volunteered to figure out our present location. My Riolu sat loyally beside me, attempting to groom my hair as well. All kinds of things had found their way into my white locks and all of them were incredibly noticeable. The hair under my black beanie had been spared the barrage of leaves and nettles but every other inch was covered in them. I promised myself that as soon as we got back to the Center I would lop all of my hair off and burn its severed remains. Or maybe just a trim would do. Either way, waist length was not cutting it… no pun intended.

"We're here!"

"Keeeeeeeeeen!"

"No, we're obviously right here!"

"Mime mime!"

"No!"

"Yeeeees!"

Finally, sick of listening to the two idiots-and their Pokémon-banter, I got up off the rock I was sitting on, walked over to Shaun and Malcolm, and yanked the map right out of their hands.

"If you two _children_ would stop _bickering _for a second I can figure out where we are. Geez, you'd think I was traveling with twelve-year-olds!" I glanced at the map for a moment before I noticed something. I slowly turned back to my two traveling companions. "You guys. The map is upside-down." Shaun looked pointedly over at Malcolm, who sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

"So that's why the letters were so hard to read." We all had a good laugh at that. It was hard for me to stay mad at those two for two long.

* * *

Turns out Shaun, Malcolm and I were near the edge of the forest, inching our way slowly back towards the Visitors' Center and Golduck harbor. Shaun called out that he had been right, but Malcolm had insisted that he had been the one pointing us in the right direction. I had Riolu shut them up again before anything serious started between those two idiots.

"Is there anything you guys want to do before we head back to the Center?" I asked Shaun and Malcolm as I pocketed the map. "We're pretty near to the Klingklang Tunnels if you want to explore a little." I paused, and thought about what I had just offered. Was I crazy? Going into the tunnels? Not to mention I didn't quite trust those two enough to go into the underground with them…My mind started to race through all the negative scenarios that might have occurred had I not noticed Riolu's peculiar behavior.

"I'm game for that." Shaun shrugged. His Cumbusken chirped in agreement.

"Sounds good to me." Malcolm agreed. "Maybe I can find some strong Pokémon there." Michelangelo crossed his little arms and nodded in agreement.

"Or a sense of direction…" Shaun quipped.

"Hey!"

"Mime!"

"Guys." I interrupted. Riolu looked around, his ears perked and his back tensed. "Stop."

"What?" Malcolm objected. "We're just playing!"

"Quiet." I held a finger to my lips and pointed at Riolu. It took a moment for the two boys to take the hint, but they did catch on. "Lead the way Riolu." I whispered to the small blue canine. He nodded and started to lead us towards whatever had caught his attention. As the little blue pup darted around the underbrush I started to smell something strange in the air; the scent reminded me of incense, but a little sweeter and a little more appealing. It was faint, but I knew that the smell was probably what Riolu was following. My traveling companions and the other Pokémon picked the scent up shortly after I had noticed it. Suddenly Riolu stopped and motioned for me to come closer. From behind the bushes we were crouching behind I saw a clearing, but it was what was in the clearing that really got my attention. I hear Malcolm and Shaun gasp at what we were seeing.

In that clearing was the thing that was going to spark the biggest adventure of my life.


	2. Puppets' Play

There in the clearing was the largest Pokémon I had ever seen. The hulking creature stood at about twenty feet, had two dangerously long and thick arms, carried what appeared to be a marionette cross on its back, and was made of what seemed to be purple cloth. The strange Pokémon was covered in rips and tears and seemed to have been around for a long time. Its cloth was discolored or stained in some places and the stitching around the arms and legs seemed to be struggling to keep itself together. The huge thing dragged its ragdoll body over to what looked to be a berry bush and turned away from us. From our hiding spot I couldn't get a good look at what it was doing, but it most definitely wasn't eating. I turned to Malcolm and Shaun who had both visibly paled. All the Pokémon looked at me; they could sense I was going to say something important.

"Do any of you know what that thing is?" I asked. The two boys both shook their heads. "Then I'm going to go get a closer look. Stay here, I'll be right back." As the two were about to protest I dashed off and headed for the other side of the clearing, making sure to hide in the underbrush surrounding the small open space. As I got closer to the creature I could make out its small black, beady, button eyes. The prospect of a living doll Pokémon creeped me out. I had always been paranoid about giving away my toys after I had been told the Shuppet story. Riolu growled as we neared the strange Pokémon and I put my finger to my lips to indicate for him to be quiet. My partner did as he was told, but when I glanced back up to look at unknown monster…

It was already looking right back at me.

I wanted to run. I really did. But my feet felt like they had been cemented to the forest floor and not even Riolu's insistent tugging could snap me out of my paralyzing fear. It turned its hulking frame towards me and its button eyes seemed to gleam with malice. Its poorly stitched together mouth turned upwards at the corners and I could almost see the energy around it warp. I knew what that meant. The monster was preparing a psychic attack. I felt like the command I gave next was more from memory than any rational decision.

"Riolu!" I shouted, "Protect!" My partner Pokémon rushed out onto line of fire and put up a pulsing blue energy field, just in the nick of time. A beam of multicolored energy shot from the purple puppet's forehead and hit Riolu's protect with alarming force. Yellow sparks shot from the point of impact and I could tell my Pokémon wouldn't last much longer under this kind of power. Snapping out of my temporarily shocked state, I grabbed Poochyena's pokeball and threw it into the clearing. My loyal Pokémon popped out of his capsule in a flash of red light and immediately analyzed the situation. The small pooch jumped in front of the psychic attack, his dark type nulling its effects.

"Poochyena, use taunt! Riolu, come back!" I commanded my friends. Riolu rushed back to my side, visibly tired from the attack. The Pokémon we were fighting was stronger than I had originally thought. Poochyena made a rather rude gesture at our enemy and I could see the stitching on its face contort into a terrible scowl. I could only hope the monster didn't know any non-psychic moves. I allowed myself a little hope when our opponent tried to hurt my pooch with another psychic beam.

"Now, Poochyena put some holes in that clothe with bite!" Poochyena ran right through the psychic beam and leapt up onto the hulking Pokémon's arm. Dark energy surrounded the small dog's mouth as chomped into purple cloth. The creature let out a terrible roar and grabbed Poochyena in a crushing grip with its free hand, pulling the pooch off of itself.

"Poochyena!" I cried out in alarm. My Pokémon cried out in pain as the monster tightened its grip on him.

"Now, Combusken use ember!" A small flame shot out at the fist that was holding Poochyena in its death grip. The large purple Pokémon immediately let go, screeching in fury as the stitching on its hand started to come undone. The orange bird let loose another ball of flame and the freakish doll forgot about my Pokémon almost completely.

"Let's send this doll to the junkyard!" Malcolm yelled as Mime Jr. jumped into the fray. I took advantage of the distraction my traveling partners offered and returned my poor pooch to his pokeball. I'd show this Pokémon that it messed with the wrong group of people.

"Lapras, come on out!" I tossed her capsule into the air, and she appeared in a flash of red light. "Let's teach this freak a lesson or two about messing with my friends."

"_Ready when you are."_ She thought back.

"Lapras, slow it down with ice beam, and then hit it with an all-out blizzard. This creep is about to experience the worst snow-day ever." My Pokémon did as she was told and sent a beam of ice-cold energy towards the purple creature's feet. The attack his its mark and the hulking Pokémon tripped on its now frozen foot as it tried to fend off another attack by Combusken.

"Guys!" I shouted over to Shaun and Malcolm. "Recall your Pokémon! It's about to get a little chilly!" The two looked at me, then each other, and then withdrew their Pokémon and hightailed it out of the way. I gave Lapras the all clear and she let loose one of the worst snowstorms I had ever seen her make. The sky darkened as she created storm clouds, the air chilled and the temperature dropped, and then Lapras let out a mighty wail as she let loose tons of hail and snow onto the purple doll. The thing struggled to stay up, but it soon toppled over, succumbing to the barrage of icy pain. As soon as the hulking beast was covered, Lapras back in her pokeball, and Shaun and Malcolm had come over to my side of the clearing, we all hightailed it out of their as fast as our legs would carry us. I had two Pokémon who needed medical attention, so I naturally made a beeline for the Pokémon center located near the Visitor's center.

"Hello!" The Nurse Joy at the reception desk greeted us cheerily. "A wonderful night for training, don't you agree." I glanced at the clock on the wall. Was it already that late?

"Yes, I guess it is…" I agreed numbly as I handed the chirpy nurse my Pokémon. Malcolm and Shaun handed her their Pokémon as well. "You wouldn't happen to have any spare rooms, would you?" The nurse looked at our pokeballs thoughtfully before looking up.

"I believe we have two spares upstairs. They're rather small, but they are quite clean."

"Thanks." I said. The nurse nodded before taking our Pokémon into the back for treatment. Shaun, Malcolm, and I all sat in the large waiting room of the Pokémon Center and didn't make a sound for quite a while. We were all still pretty shocked from the earlier encounter. We just sat there and passed the time by staring at the white wash that covered the walls and watching the little potted plants grow. Finally, after about an hour or so Shaun spoke up.

"What was that thing anyway?" Both Malcolm and I looked at our friend with rather blank expressions.

"Your guess is as good as ours." Malcolm shrugged. "All I know it that it was dangerous and hostile, even an immediate threat to all the tourists here for the poké migration."

"Yeah, I'll say." I looked back on the brutal battle that had taken place it the forest clearing. "If you guys hadn't jumped in when you had, Poochyena might have been killed."

"You really thought we were going to sit back and let your friends get thrown around like that?" Shaun looked at me, incredulous. "As if. No Pokémon hurts any friends of mine!"

"Yeah," Malcolm agreed. "We would never let you take on anything that dangerous on your own. We almost laughed when you told us to stay put." I let out a sigh. Could I really trust these guys? Were they really telling the truth? I smiled at them anyway. For now, I decided, I could count on them.

"Thanks guys."

* * *

Meanwhile, on another unknown part of the island…

"I can't believe that little brat would have the gall to embarrass us like that!" Margo complained, shaking out her tangled blue hair. "She'll pay for what she's done!"

"Yes," Marco agreed his blond hair and uniform in ruins. "But I think those kids outnumber us 3 to 1." He picked up the shiny Shinx and looked at his partner. "If we want to beat them, we'll have to do it with brain, not brawn."

"You're right." The young woman cupped her chin in her hand thoughtfully, pondering the possibilities of a good comeback method. "Maybe we can get some dirt on the girl and her friends…and tear their group apart at the seams." Marco nodded.

"Devious indeed. I like it."


End file.
